Jail costs challenge

Two men jailed after being wrongly convicted of murdering paperboy Carl Bridgewater were today asking the High Court to overturn a reduced compensation assessment which charged them £60,000 each for prison board and lodging.

Two men jailed after being wrongly convicted of murdering paperboy Carl Bridgewater were today asking the High Court to overturn a reduced compensation assessment which charged them &#xA3;60,000 each for prison board and lodging.

Vincent Hickey, 48, and his cousin Michael, 41, are angry at a decision by a Home Office assessor that their compensation should be reduced by 25 per cent to take account of "saved living expenses" which they would otherwise have incurred as free men.

The two men were jailed in 1979 for the murder of Carl at Stourbridge, Staffordshire. Their convictions were quashed in 1997. Vincent has received &#xA3;285,000 and Michael &#xA3;170,000.

Today they were asking for a ruling that it was wrong to charge a wrongly-convicted person for being housed in jail.